You need to adopt an Indian sensibility and momentarily put aside your usual Western discernment when you view the second feature film of New York based writer/director Jayan Cherian which has so outraged the Indian Film Censors that they have banned it from being played in the country. What has caused them so much offense is that the storyline dares to deal with issues like homosexuality that is still illegal in the country and a social taboo, as is any hint of feminism which is another central plank of what other parts of the world consider the most gentlest of stories.
Haris (Jason Chacko) a struggling artist is about to have his first solo show and has persuaded Vishnu (Rajesah Kannen) his friend and the object of his affection to move in with him and act as his model too. This does not sit too well with Vishnu’s ultra-conservative Uncle who is now his employer too.
Meanwhile their Moslem friend Sia (Naseera) who works in the office of a factory stands up for the rights of the girls who work on the production line when they are threatened with dismissal when their male boss learns that there is a used tampon in the bathroom. An attempt by the supervisor to strip search them has Sia scurrying off to file a complaint at the Police Station with a reluctant Inspector who spills the beans with both the employer and Sia’s father. The latter then threatens her with an honor killing for the disgrace she has brought on the family.
Meanwhile word gets around Haris’s apartment building about the nature of the art that he is producing which ends up with he, Vishnu and Sia being evicted in the middle of the night wth their possessions and all the art just thrown on to the sidewalk.
It is inevitable that this will not end well for any of them, and one would have thought that this alone may give some sort of succor to the movie’s detractors, but no, their petition still claims that it is ridiculing, insulting and humiliating the Hindu religion.
Even getting a movie like this made in India is no mean feat, and one can only imagine that a lot of it was on the down-low. It is by Western standards almost puritanical with Haris and Vishnu never allowed to lock lips on the screen let alone get down and dirty, but that is still not enough to appease a State censorship system that still insists on coming down hard on anything that dares to question their heteronormative misogynist cultural.
Full credit to Cherian and his cast and crew for having the foresight and courage to make this inspiring wee film, which is still playing at Film Festivals around the world outside of India. If it pops up near you, be sure to go and support it. It is the very least we can do.
